Tag Archives: Fiol

The evolution of new organizational forms has attracted growing theoretical and empirical attention, but little research has considered the microsocial processes that promote the emergence of groups of quasi-similar organizations that sometimes evolve into new organizational forms. Drawing from social psychological and sociological theories of identity formation, we explain processes of individual identification and collective identity development that precede and promote the formation of similar clusters, which audiences can then recognize and distinguish from established organizational populations and other emerging similarity clusters.

Lest you think that I’m writing only to (or about) those of us who are old(er) in the field of organization studies, let me assure you that I am not. Yes, much of the research of us older folks is not fresh and new, but neither is that of much of the younger generation either. I recently had the opportunity to read numerous dissertation proposals, most of which cited elders in our field after every fourth or fifth word, and they contained very little content beyond spinning together old and often severely flawed theories. These young folks, who are diligently following our conventions of displaying knowledge of and building on existing theory, would benefit from learning to act as if they were new, as would many of us who are old.

The article discusses the ways to treat intractable physician-administrator conflicts in the U.S. It mentions that intractable physician-administrator conflicts poses a major problem to attaining the improved quality and financial outcomes needed in healthcare environment. It presents steps in helping disentangle physicians and administrators which includes identifying common ground such as shared commitments to quality care and transparency.

Identity is often at the heart of ongoing intergroup conflicts in organizations. Drawing from theories of conflict management, social identity, and organizational identification, we develop the intractable identity conflict resolution model, which delineates a multiphase process by which the conflicting parties’ identities shift in order to permit eventual intergroup harmony.

In this article, the authors reflect on the past two decades of research on organizational identity, looking to its history and to its future. They do not provide a review of the literature, nor do they promote a particular perspective on the concept. Instead, they advocate pluralism in studying organizational identity while encouraging clarity and transparency in the articulation of definitions and core theoretical suppositions. Believing there is no one best approach to the study of organizational identity, their intent is to establish a reference point that can orient future work on organizational identity. They focus on three questions they feel are critical: What is the nomological net that embeds organizational identity? Is organizational identity “real” (or simply metaphoric)? and How do we define and conceptualize organizational identity? Last, they try to anticipate organizational identity issues on the horizon to suggest future directions for theory and research.

The evolution of new organizational forms has attracted growing theoretical and empirical attention, but little research has considered the micro-social processes that promote the emergence of quasi-similar organizations that may evolve over time into organizational forms with distinctive identities that are both claimed and granted. Drawing on social psychological theories of identity formation within and among organizational groups, we develop a model of identification and identity development for organizational forms that underpins arguments from ecological and institutional theory.

Information fatigue, analysis paralysis, communications gridlock: These and other terms entered the business lexicon with the rapid acceleration of information technology and globalization in the late 20th century. Taken together, these terms paint a picture of an increasingly complex workplace and hint at the challenges facing leaders in the 21st century. Today’s leaders cannot afford to focus solely on the inspirational rhetoric that their predecessors used to build commitment. In fact, we argue that there are four significant objectives that leaders must accomplish with their language: building and breaking down commitment and building and breaking down understanding. By focusing on all four objectives, leaders engage the hearts (through commitment) and minds (through understanding) of their followers. We draw from literature in communication, management, organizational behavior, and psychology to describe and illustrate techniques and objectives with contemporary examples of executives such as Steve Jobs of Apple Computer and Gary Kelly of Southwest Airlines. By providing a thoughtful analysis of the critical language objectives and techniques in a contemporary context, we not only highlight cutting-edge work on leader communication, but also provide actionable insights for leaders, researchers, and students who want to improve their understanding and execution of the language of leadership.

What steps can you take as a leader to involve your people in getting these important pieces in place? Do you have to do all this yourself, or are there leadership strategies that will encourage your people to step forward and willingly carry this burden with you?

The article presents the authors’ views on handling individual emotional reactions to change. Individual emotional reactions to change go through several phases including naive confidence, denial, depression and informed hopefulness. It is important to understand and manage the transitions of people through these phases. After diagnosing a particular phase of emotional transition, specific actions can be taken toward the next phase of emotional transition.

The article discusses various issues related to physician morale. According to a survey, physicians have tried to regain their autonomy in several ways. Physician attitudes and behaviors affect the cost, and quality of health services in many ways. Several clinical quality improvement initiatives launched by accreditation bodies, and government agencies are designed to address the identified quality problem.

In this article, the authors reflect on the past two decades of research on organizational identity, looking to its history and to its future. They do not provide a review of the literature, nor do they promote a particular perspective on the concept. Instead, they advocate pluralism in studying organizational identity while encouraging clarity and transparency in the articulation of definitions and core theoretical suppositions. Believing there is no one best approach to the study of organizational identity, their intent is to establish a reference point that can orient future work on organizational identity. They focus on three questions they feel are critical: What is the nomological net that embeds organizational identity? Is organizational identity “real” (or simply metaphorical)? and How do we define and conceptualize organizational identity? Last, they try to anticipate organizational identity issues on the horizon to suggest future directions for theory and research.

A large, successful, multispecialty group practice held a spaghetti dinner. Physicians cooked spaghetti, served spaghetti, cleaned up and took a bit of ribbing. The people they were serving were their employees. The communication from the physicians was clear: All year long you serve us. Tonight we wish to serve you. We appreciate what you contribute. What have you done recently to express your appreciation, strengthen relationships and build the foundation for successfully influencing your people?

Innovation is critical to long-term success in today’s health care environment. Change is accelerating, competition increasing and access to information expanding. Many health care providers try to ignore these changing demands while continuing to practice past behaviors. Others react by leaving the profession in order to avoid having to make the required adjustments. Neither strategy contributes much to generating the innovation required to effectively deliver care in today’s environment.

The article presents information on the focused entrepreneurial thinking to provide quality medical care and strong financial health. Entrepreneurial focus is the key ingredient that may mean the difference between surviving and thriving as an organization. A physician executive needs to encourage taking the steps required to ensure that one’s reward must support the organization’s people’s commitment to quality, safety, and contribution. People throughout health care organizations often do not judge the potential of values and visioning processes.

The article discusses how majority of medical errors are preventable through better systems, including the use of information technology, avoidance of similar sounding drugs and standardization of evidence-based protocols. Though the technology and systems critical to patient safety are available, medical errors continue in many health systems and limited progress has been made toward patient safety objectives. Resistance often blocks the implementation of needed changes. Open communication among people with different perspectives is a key requirement for minimizing this human barrier to improved patient safety outcomes.

Describes how to move into and through transitions between two buildings in case of emergency like fire. Discussion on the three things get people to move into and through transitions; Pain or anticipated pain in the present that demands doing something different; Reduction of the perceived risk during the transition; Object to move forward; Factors that tend to encourage people to move into and through transitions; Rewards for success; Minimization the perceived risk of trying to change through training.

This article highlights methods to tackle changes encountered by people in their life. While there is no single right approach to tackling change, following a systematic, sequential process developed by others who have effectively traveled through similar territory increases one’s likelihood of success. People develop a sense of increased urgency, a change team starts to effectively work together, a vision is clarified and communicated and people begin to demonstrate behaviors that show buy-in. Under pressure for rapid results, however, leaders often focus on barriers and action steps before energizers are effectively addressed, leading to little progress, many meetings and fruitless, repetitive discussions of the same topics.

Identification is a person’s sense of belonging with a social category. Identification in virtual organizational teams is thought to be especially desirable because it provides the glue that can promote group cohesion despite the relative lack of face-to-face interaction. Though research on virtual teams is exploding, it has not systematically identified the antecedents or moderators of the process by which identification develops, leaving a number of gaps and apparent contradictions. The purpose of this paper is to begin to untangle the contradictions and address some of the gaps by tracing the mechanisms and moderating processes through which identification develops in hybrid and pure virtual settings, and the ways that these processes differ from face-to-face settings.

This essay invites you to entertain the possibility that our current ideas about the human mind and its supposed limitations may themselves be limited. What if organizational realities were more malleable than we believe? What if organizational members could alter their physical surroundings even just occasionally through focused mental attention? We review evidence from numerous fields suggesting that the human mind may be capable of affecting physical reality from a distance and into the past and the future. Although not all studies have provided universal support, the evidence for the impact of focused mental attention is sufficiently compelling and the potential implications sufficiently important that we believe it is time to explicitly examine the organizational implications of the power of the human mind.